Side control high percentage recovery

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luisgi

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Bottom side control sucks, a lot.

As my partners get better I keep finding it harder and harder to get out.
I have seen lots of videos of different ways to recover half guard, or to reverse the opponent, or the classic bridge/push/shrimp, but nothing has clicked so far.

But most of the time I fail miserably on the escapes I have seen. I found something that works for me, and it is the Marcelo Garcia Elbow Push (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDVO9kXu5Lc), I have gotten to the point that I can execute well on it, but I want to have more tools.

What side control escape do you consider high percentage?

I find the bridge/push/shrimp hard to execute, but I am aware that I psychologically kind of gave up on the escape as I could barely ever get it to work and I need to revisit it.

Any pointers?
 
I use One arm on their throat, one on the hip. I don't bridge unless they are heavy. Instead I throw my feet away to the non blocked side, and do a power lateral hip escape, then I jam a knee in with the space, etc etc. I find really throwing your feet away gives your hip escape a lot of power.

I'm not sure how I feel about bridging. It uses a lot of energy, but it works for some people. I still find that if my partner has good top pressure and really settles in, then escaping uses more energy than it's worth. Instead I wait for him/her to start a transition and then I make my move. I know it's kinda lazy, but after escaping bottom side my stamina is already drained.
 
Side control just sucks. If the top player is good, you simply won't get out. I try bringing my elbow to my chest and hand on the hip and try to shrimp myself out. If that doesn't work I try to wait for the tell tale signs of knee on belly or mount and use that opportunity to get out or counter. But in general I suck at side control escapes.
 
You need to move your hips away. Also make sure you have your frame. You can try and put your forearm on their throat and push away.

If they are really heavy some guys just like to sit in side mount and just pin you there. If you are in danger you need to pendulum your legs and try and throw them off balance.

Personally I hate big guys that just pin you add it doesn't really help anyone develop any type of game and it wears me down to get out. I usually get out but at the expense of a lot of energy. My coach says that I shouldn't use so much energy to escape. He likes to put the biggest guys with me and have them hold me down because he knows how much I hate it.
 
I feel your pain TS.

I'm constantly getting stuck in bottom side control. In fact, I spend so much time there, my defense has become really good. People really struggle to get a submission on me, but I cannot for the fucking life of me, get out of there.

I dunno what it is, but I can never remember side control escapes. I'm always just making it up as I go... or at least I was for a long time.

I've recently started drilling the absolute fuck out of the basic side control escapes and I've been having a little success. I've also been concentrating more on not "accepting" side control but instead continually fighting and really working to stop the guard pass in the first place.


But really, it's just one of the MANY gaping holes in my game haha.
 
I really like the elbow push escape. And thanks for posting that video because I haven't watched it in a while and I forgot some details. I realize that I sometimes try to push their arms first too much to escape my head instead of circling my head through like Marcelo does in the initial stages ( I hope that sentence made sense) :redface:

Anyway. I'm a fresh blue belt and escaping side control is one of the hardest things in BJJ in my opinion.
 
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I like Mendes' method of shrimping off the bottom foot and bringing the top knee inside, or sitting up like Marcelo with a collar-tie or elbow push.
 
This doesn't help getting out of fully locked side control but I've been spending less time in side control since I realised the value of fighting hard not to let them get the cross face. Given how draining it is to get out of side control, it's worth really going for it as they are establishing it and then getting your breath back from guard. And what I've been finding working in that is simply to push them towards your legs and wriggle out until you can either sit or stand up.
 
Just push your knee into them and keep your other leg on the ground. They won't be able to help themselves from mounting. Soon as they do, shove their knee down and capture half guard.
 
SummerStriker said:
Just push your knee into them and keep your other leg on the ground. They won't be able to help themselves from mounting. Soon as they do, shove their knee down and capture half guard.
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I used to do this a lot, but good guys know not to mount without killing your route to half guard recovery first. Or they will windshield-wipe to the far side KOB and either re-mount or take your back.
 
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Here budo Jake demonstrates the easiest way to get out of a good side control at 1:05:00.
 
In general I find that the guys that are hard to do the traditional guard recovery against are guys who are big, heavy, and put their weight forward on you. Basically what I do in top side. I find that lends itself to getting an underhook and escaping to the knees - or even just escaping to the knees WITHOUT an underhook.

You must prevent the crossface and break it if they have it. That's step number 1. Very few escapes work with a strong crossface.
 
Shemhazai said:
I used to do this a lot, but good guys know not to mount without killing your route to half guard recovery first. Or they will windshield-wipe to the far side KOB and either re-mount or take your back.
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Yea as soon as someone does what he described BOLOs for everyone.
 
Shemhazai said:
I used to do this a lot, but good guys know not to mount without killing your route to half guard recovery first. Or they will windshield-wipe to the far side KOB and either re-mount or take your back.
Click to expand...

I know. I was being half serious. When I resort to it, it feels like a gym loss. I'll still do it though if I'm forced to and can get away with it. It works on stronger men with good side control but less finesse.
 
I don't think there is such a thing as a high percentage side control escape against someone on your level or higher. Especially if they're bigger than your and/or only trying to hold you down. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but if you're in side control bottom you screwed up 5 steps ago.

Block the cross face and the back lapel grip as best you can. Then you can work Marcelo's elbow push escapes or you can bridge + hip escape. Rafa Mendes also does a nice side control escape where instead of trying to get the nearside knee in he reverse shrimps and gets the farside knee in.
 
INTERL0PER said:
I feel your pain TS.

I'm constantly getting stuck in bottom side control. In fact, I spend so much time there, my defense has become really good. People really struggle to get a submission on me, but I cannot for the fucking life of me, get out of there.

I dunno what it is, but I can never remember side control escapes. I'm always just making it up as I go... or at least I was for a long time.

I've recently started drilling the absolute fuck out of the basic side control escapes and I've been having a little success. I've also been concentrating more on not "accepting" side control but instead continually fighting and really working to stop the guard pass in the first place.


But really, it's just one of the MANY gaping holes in my game haha.
Click to expand...

Sounds like your strength and heart needs to improve.
 
It was a very small class today so the instructor asked what did we want to work on and I said side control escapes. We drilled some bad ass escapes and counters, I wish someone had a camera rolling! I could type how the escape works but it's not going to make sense without video.
 
Just wait for your opponent to move, then escape. Holding someone down without trying to advance position, without going for a sub, or without trying to strike is a totally artificial position that doesn't occur outside of judo matches.
 
masada555 said:
Just wait for your opponent to move, then escape. Holding someone down without trying to advance position, without going for a sub, or without trying to strike is a totally artificial position that doesn't occur outside of judo matches.
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against someone good, 'just holding you down' means youre already losing.




my advice to the op is: the top guy wants to take away space, so you want to create space. there are many things in grappling that can be improved by an elbow across the throat, and this is one of them. never let the opponent have an easy time of settling down, if they do youre pretty much fucked until/unless they slip up. nine times out of ten when a guy loses side control in a bjj match, its because the other guy kept framing and shrimping, got a leg in, and recovered gward.

of course thats also partly because you get your points from guard sweeps in ibjjf rules, but not from reversals or escapes. speaking of which escaping to the knees is the other option if hes stopping you turning the leg in, you can reverse direction and walk your hips out the other way, and turn uphill to base. if your near arm is in between his legs, bridging and funk rolling is also an option.

all basic, gross motor movements, and at high levels, the most common escapes there are.
 
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